Week 7 Under the Sea

“It’s better down where it’s wetter” Welcome to Under the Sea!

Under the Sea Facts

Oceans Every Where

Oceans touch every continent on earth there are 5 oceans all together. The Pacific, Atlantic, Artic, Southern, and Indian. Although It could be argued it’s all one ocean.

Thats Alot of Water!

70% of the earth is covered by ocean, and 97% of our water comes from the ocean! Thats why it’s so important to take care of our oceans and ocean life.

Whats in the Deep Blue Sea?

The answer is we really don’t know. More than 80 % of the worlds oceans are unobserved and unexplored.

Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is located in the Pacific Ocean near Guam. It was formed as tectonic plates slide together above and under each other. The trench measures 36,000 feet (10,973 meter) below sea level. There have only been three missions to explore the deep of the trench and only one has been manned. Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in the bathyscaphe Trieste, on Jan. 23, 1960, descended into the deepest part of the trench, the Challenger Deep. It took five hours form the surface for the craft to touch the seafloor at 35,810 feet (10,915 meters), where it encountered pressure exceeding 16,000 pounds per square inch!

The Source of All Life

Many scientists believe that all life started in the sea as underwater organisms before developing into more complex organisms eventually leaving the seas as landmass grew.

One Million Species

Scientists estimate that around one million species of animals live in our oceans today. Although with so much still unexplored who knows how many more we may discover.

Animal of the Week: Sea Bunny

Who said slugs couldn’t be cute! Check out this sea slug know as a Sea Bunny. These little cuties can be found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and are often found hanging around Japan but can even be found all the way off the coast of Australia. Measuring just an inch long these sea bunnies are super tiny and can be hard to spot. Their little “bunny ears” are actually sensory organs called rhinophores. Believe it or not, they actually use these to smell the water so they can find food and mates. While they may look like sweet innocent little bunnies they have a secret weapon! Sea Bunnies eat other creatures high in toxins that they then absorbed and used to keep predators away. Sea bunnies are as toxic as they are cute!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df9XRaoSMOs

Don’t miss out on this week’s Around the World Adventure: Under the Sea! There will be lots of fun activities, including crafts and lots of splish-splash fun while we learn all about animals found under the sea!